The Hallway Challenge Is Back In Vogue (Not That It Ever Left)

Lately I’ve noticed that Parisians are really into playing this game, and it’s not bicycle racing, petanque, rugby, foot, or betting on chariots. It’s the “hallway challenge.” You know, that thing that junior high bullies do where they intentionally provoke a collision with you, even though you obviously are on your “half” of a shared space, and then to top it off, they try to pick a fight with you? Well, it’s the same game over here, but in France they play it like “I didn’t see you. I still don’t see you. And I won’t,” even after they’ve run over your foot with a rolling suitcase filled with canned duck, and you’ve cursed them aloud in English (which they understand, but pretend not to). It’s a fun game, and one I plan on winning the next time I go grocery shopping at the “Hyper Casino.”

Also of note today, I saw a Roma gypsy beggar woman mercilessly spanking a Roma gypsy beggar baby under the awning of a Vietnamese sandwich shop. Then, a few minutes later I saw a sixty-year-old woman dressed like a Hungarian peasant who had an inwardly turned pink crevasse in her face where her nose should have been.